The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness
- 2014 INDIES Winner
- Honorable Mention, Essays (Adult Nonfiction)
For a writer like Rebecca Solnit, it is impossible to walk through a pitch dark labyrinth in Iceland without thinking of Athena hacking her way out of Zeus’s head, labias, certain Christians who believe the Virgin Mary conceived through her ear, and this mesmerizing passage:
Darkness is amorous, the darkness of passion, of your own unknowns rising to the surface, the darkness of interiors, and perhaps part of what makes pornography so pornographic is the glaring light in which it transpires, that and the lack of actual touch, the substitution of eyes for skin, of seeing for touching.
The great essayists can make miracles happen through free association because, frankly, they know more about the world, write better, and effortlessly contemplate any number of compelling ideas at the same time.
In this, her latest of a dozen-plus books of nonfiction, Solnit delivers twenty-nine more essays featuring Japanese earthquakes, mercury and gold mining, the Mexican drug trade, Martha Stewart, and an untold number of other touchstones.
Whatever the subject, let’s just get out of the way and let the gifted woman write.
Reviewed by
Matt Sutherland
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
